Posted on by givenscj

Create a BDC Application Definition for a Web Service

In working with a large Canadian Law firm this week, I built this lab to help them learn to build Web Services that cater to BDC Web Service Application Definition files.  Pretty neat stuff…keep in mind that you have  to setup the BDC Editor before performing these steps.

Exercise 1 – Create a BDC App Def File (Web Service)

Purpose:
        Create
a BDC Application Definition File with the Microsoft BDC tool.  Note that this tool is a basic editor, it
doesn’t implement any advanced functionality. 
To do advanced things, you will need to reference the schema file and
build your own xml.

Result:            An Application Definition File

Task 1 –Create a Web
Service

  1. In Visual Studio, create a
    new web service project
    • Click
      “File->New->Web Site”
    • Select “ASP.NET Web
      Service”
    • For location, type
      “D:lab workBDCWebService”
    • Click “Ok”

Task 2 –Create a
return class

  1. Create a new class to act as
    our return type
    • Right click the
      project, select “Add New Item”
    • Select “Class”
    • For name, type
      “Product.cs”
    • Click “Add”
  2. Click “Yes” to the “App_Code”
    directory
  3. Add the following variable to
    the class (copy under the “public class Product” line):



protected int m_ProductID;

    protected
string m_ProductName;

    protected
int m_SupplierID;

    protected
int m_CategoryID;

    protected
string m_QuantityPerUnit;

    protected
double m_UnitPrice;

    protected
short m_UnitsInStock;

    protected
short m_UnitsOnOrder;

    protected
short m_ReorderLevel;

    protected
bool m_Discontinued;

 
  1. Add the following properties
    to the class:


public int ProductID

    {

        get {
return (m_ProductID); }

        set {
m_ProductID = value; }

    }

    public
string ProductName

    {

        get {
return (m_ProductName); }

        set {
m_ProductName = value; }

    }

    public int
SupplierID

    {

        get {
return (m_SupplierID); }

        set {
m_SupplierID = value; }

    }

    public int
CategoryID

    {

        get {
return (m_CategoryID); }

        set {
m_CategoryID = value; }

    }

    public
string QuantityPerUnit

    {

        get {
return (m_QuantityPerUnit); }

        set {
m_QuantityPerUnit = value; }

    }

    public
double UnitPrice

    {

        get {
return (m_UnitPrice); }

        set {
m_UnitPrice = value; }

    }

    public
short UnitsInStock

    {

        get {
return (m_UnitsInStock); }

        set { m_UnitsInStock
= value; }

    }

    public
short UnitsOnOrder

    {

        get {
return (m_UnitsOnOrder); }

        set {
m_UnitsOnOrder = value; }

    }

    public
short ReorderLevel

    {

        get {
return (m_ReorderLevel); }

        set {
m_ReorderLevel = value; }

    }

    public bool
Discontinued

    {

        get {
return (m_Discontinued); }

        set {
m_Discontinued = value; }

    }

 

 
  1. Add the following methods to
    the class:



public Product(IDataRecord record)

    {

       
this.Fill(record);

    }

 

    internal
void Fill(IDataRecord record)

    {

       
m_ProductID = (int)record["ProductID"];

       
m_ProductName = (string)record["ProductName"];

 

        if
(record["SupplierID"] != DBNull.Value)

        {

            m_SupplierID =
(int)record["SupplierID"];

        }

        if
(record["CategoryID"] != DBNull.Value)

        {

           
m_CategoryID = (int)record["CategoryID"];

        }

        if
(record["QuantityPerUnit"] != DBNull.Value)

        {

            m_QuantityPerUnit
= (string)record["QuantityPerUnit"];

        }

        if
(record["UnitPrice"] != DBNull.Value)

        {

           
m_UnitPrice = Convert.ToDouble(record["UnitPrice"]);

        }

        if
(record["UnitsInStock"] != DBNull.Value)

        {

           
m_UnitsInStock = Convert.ToInt16(record["UnitsInStock"]);

        }

        if
(record["UnitsOnOrder"] != DBNull.Value)

        {

           
m_UnitsOnOrder = Convert.ToInt16(record["UnitsOnOrder"]);

        }

        if
(record["ReorderLevel"] != DBNull.Value)

        {

           
m_ReorderLevel = Convert.ToInt16(record["ReorderLevel"]);

        }

       
m_Discontinued = (bool)record["Discontinued"];

 

    }

 
  1. Add the following attribute
    to the class:



[Serializable]

 
  1. Compile the project, fix any
    errors

Task 3 –Implement the
web methods

  1. Open the Service.cs file
  2. Add the following using
    statements to the file:


using System.Data;

using System.Data.SqlClient;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.ComponentModel;

using Microsoft.ApplicationBlocks.Data;

using System.Configuration;

 
  1. Add a property to get a
    connection string from the configuration file:


private string ConnectionString

    {

        get

        {

           
AppSettingsReader reader = new AppSettingsReader();

           
return (string)reader.GetValue("ConnectionString",
typeof(string));

        }

    }

 
  1. Open the web.config file
  2. Add the following line to the
    <Configuraton><appSettings> element:


    <add
key="ConnectionString"
value="server=.;database=northwind;uid=sa;pwd=Pa$$w0rd"/>

 
  1. Save the file
  2. Add a method to get a list of
    ids:



[WebMethod(Description = "Returns a List of
Products IDs")]

    public
List<int> GetProductEnumeratorIDs()

    {

       
List<int> retVal = new List<int>();

 

        string
sql = "SELECT [ProductID] FROM [Products]";

 

       
SqlDataReader reader = null;

 

        try

        {

 

           
reader = SqlHelper.ExecuteReader(this.ConnectionString,
CommandType.Text, sql);

 

            if
(reader.HasRows)

            {

 

               
while (reader.Read())

               
{

                   
retVal.Add(reader.GetInt32(0));

                }

 

            }

 

        }

        catch

        {

           
throw;

        }

        finally

        {

            if
(reader != null && !reader.IsClosed)

            {

               
reader.Close();

            }

        }

 

        return
retVal;

    }

 
  1. Add a method to get a single
    Product from the database by ProductId:


[WebMethod(Description = "Returns a single Product Entity by ID")]

    public
Product GetProduct(int productID)

    {

        string
sql = "SELECT [ProductID], [ProductName], [SupplierID], [CategoryID],
[QuantityPerUnit], [UnitPrice], [UnitsInStock], [UnitsOnOrder],
[ReorderLevel], [Discontinued] FROM [Products] WHERE [ProductID] =
@ProductID";

 

       
SqlDataReader reader = null;

 

        try

        {

 

           
reader = SqlHelper.ExecuteReader(this.ConnectionString,

                            CommandType.Text,
sql,

                            new
SqlParameter[] {

                                                    new SqlParameter("@ProductID",
productID) });

 

            if
(reader.HasRows)

            {

               
reader.Read();

               
return new Product(reader);

 

            }

 

        }

        catch

        {

           
throw;

        }

        finally

        {

            if
(reader != null && !reader.IsClosed)

            {

               
reader.Close();

            }

        }

 

        return
null;

    }

 
  1. Add a method to get a single
    Product from the database by ProductName:



[WebMethod(Description = "Returns a List of
Products Filtered By Name")]

    public
List<Product> GetProductsByName(string productName)

    {

       
List<Product> retVal = new List<Product>();

 

        string
sql = "SELECT [ProductID], [ProductName], [SupplierID], [CategoryID],
[QuantityPerUnit], [UnitPrice], [UnitsInStock], [UnitsOnOrder], [ReorderLevel],
[Discontinued] FROM [Products] WHERE [ProductName] Like @ProductName";

 

       
SqlDataReader reader = null;

 

        try

        {

 

           
reader = SqlHelper.ExecuteReader(this.ConnectionString,

                            CommandType.Text,
sql,

                            new
SqlParameter[] {

                                                    new
SqlParameter("@ProductName", string.Format("%{0}%",
productName)) });

 

            if
(reader.HasRows)

            {

 

               
while (reader.Read())

               
{

                   
retVal.Add(new Product(reader));

               
}

 

            }

 

        }

        catch

        {

           
throw;

        }

        finally

        {

            if
(reader != null && !reader.IsClosed)

            {

               
reader.Close();

            }

        }

 

        return
retVal;

    }
  1. Add a method to get all the
    Products from the database:


[WebMethod(Description = "Returns a List of Products")]

    public
List<Product> GetProducts()

    {

       
List<Product> retVal = new List<Product>();

 

        string
sql = "SELECT [ProductID], [ProductName], [SupplierID], [CategoryID],
[QuantityPerUnit], [UnitPrice], [UnitsInStock], [UnitsOnOrder],
[ReorderLevel], [Discontinued] FROM [Products]";

 

       
SqlDataReader reader = null;

 

        try

        {

 

           
reader = SqlHelper.ExecuteReader(this.ConnectionString,

                            CommandType.Text,
sql);

 

            if
(reader.HasRows)

            {

 

               
while (reader.Read())

               
{

                   
retVal.Add(new Product(reader));

               
}

 

            }

 

        }

        catch

        {

           
throw;

        }

        finally

        {

            if
(reader != null && !reader.IsClosed)

            {

               
reader.Close();

            }

        }

 

        return
retVal;

    }

 
  1. Add a helper class called
    SqlHelper:
    • Right click the
      project, select “Add New Item”
    • Select “Class”
    • For name, type
      “SqlHelper”
    • Click “Add”
  2. Paste the code in the 07_Lab07.extra.txt
    code snippet file into the file
  3. Compile the project, fix any
    errors
  4. Set the web service port to
    200
    • Click the project in
      the solution explorer
    • In the “Properties”
      window, set Dynamic Ports to “false”
    • Set the Port number to
      “2000”
  5. Run the web service, press F5
  6. Click “Ok” to create the
    web.config file
  7. You should see your web
    service running on port 2000


Task 4 –Create a BDC
Application Definition file

  1. Click “Start->All
    Programs->Microsoft Business Data Catalog Definition Editor”
  2. The BDC editor will start:


  1. Click “Add LOB System”
  2. Click “Connect to Web Service”
  3. Type the URL of the web
    service “http://localhost:2000/BDCWebService/Service.asmx”
  4. Click “Connect”
  5. Click “Add Web Method” (on
    the right side)
  6. Drag all the methods to the design surface (make sure they are all
    added to the same Entity)!
    • GetProductEnumeratorIDs
    • GetProduct
    • GetProductsByName
    • GetProducts


  1. Click “Ok”
  2. For the name, type “Products”
  3. Click “Ok”
  4. Note how our Instances and
    Entities are populated


  1. Also note how the
    Identifiers, Methods and Actions are populated
  2. Right Click on any node,
    notice how you get the ability to add a new item that is appropriate for
    whatever level you are on in the tree view


  1. Select the “Enitiy1” node
  2. In the Property editor,
    change the name to “Products”


  1. Expand the
    Products->Methods->GetProductByName->Parameters->Return->Return->Item
    nodes


  1. You will see the properties
    of the Product class exposed as fields that will be returned in your BDC
    Application!
  2. Right click “Identifier”,
    select “Add Identifier”
    • For Name, type
      “ProductId”
    • For the Type, select
      “System.Int32”
  3. Setup an Enumerator method
    • Expand GetProductEnumeratorIDs
    • Right click
      “Instances”, select “Add Method Instance”
    • Click the “Id
      Enumerator” method type
    • For the name, type
      “EnumId”
    • Click “Ok”
  4. Setup a SpecificFinder method
    • Expand GetProduct
    • Right click “Filters”,
      select “Add Filter”
    • For FilterType, select
      “Equals”
    • For Name, type
      “ProductId”
    • Expand
      “Parameters->Return->Return”
    • Select “ProductID”
    • Set the Identifier to
      “ProductId[Product]”
    • Right click
      “Instances”, select “Add Method Instance”
    • Click the “SpecificFinder”
      method type
    • For the name, type
      “ProductSpecificFinder”
    • Click “Ok”
  5. Setup a Finder method
    • Expand GetProducts
    • Expand
      “Parameters->Return->Return->Item”
    • Select “ProductID”
    • Set the Identifier to
      “ProductId[Product]”
    • Right click
      “Instances”, select “Add Method Instance”
    • Click the “Finder”
      method type
    • For the name, type
      “ProductFinder”
    • Click “Ok”
  6. Right click the “Products”
    LobSystem and select “Export”


  1. Save to your desktop as Lists.xml
  2. Open the file, review its
    contents

Task 5 –Upload your
new BDC Application

  1. Open the Central
    Administration site
  2. Click “SharedServices1”
  3. Click “Import Application
    Definition”
  4. Select your “products.xml”
    file
  5. Click “Import”

Task 7 –Create BDC
Web Part

  1. Open your team site
  2. Click “Site Actions->Edit
    Page”
  3. Select the “Business Data
    List” web part
  4. Click “Add”
  5. Click “Open the tool pane”
    link
  6. For Type, click the browse
    button
  7. Select the “Products”
    business Data Type
  8. Click “Ok”
  9. Click “Ok”
  10. You should see a listing of
    all the products from the web service!


 

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